Flap breaker and holder

ABSTRACT

AN APPARATUS TO BREAK AND HOLD FLAPS OF BOXES TO BE PACKED WITH OBJECTS IN A CASE PACKER. A CONVEYOR MOUNTED ON THE CASE PACKER CARRIES BOXES TO A LOADING POSITION. A CLOSED CHAIN MOUNTED TO THE CASE PACKER HAS RIGID BARS SPACED ALONG ITS LENGTH PROJECTING OVER THE CONVEYOR IN CANTILEVER FASHION FOR PUSHING THE BOXES IN A GIVEN DIRECTION. IN ADDITION, CANTILEVER SPRINGS ARE ATTACHED TO THE CLOSED CHAIN AND SPACED AT INTERVALS ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE CHAIN FOR RESILIENTLY HOLDING DOWN THE LEADING FLAP OF THE BOXES. MUTUALLY FACING RECESSES POSITIONED ABOVE AND ALONG EACH SIDE OF THE CONVEYOR HOLD THE SIDE FLAPS OF THE BOXES IN OUTWARDLY EXTENDING POSITIONS AS THE BOXES MOVE ALONG THE CONVEYOR.

United States Patent [72] Inventor JamesLShuttleworth Division of Ser. No. 514,205, Dec. 16. 1965, at: his. 2.9 2%?- [54] FLAP BREAKER AND HOLDER 2,620,961 12/1952 Wahletal 2,684,799 7/1954 Holstein 53/381X 3,019,924 2/1962 Krupp et al. 53/382X 3,141,279 7/1964 Arnett 53/382 Primary Examiner-Theron E. Condon Assistant Examiner-Neil Abrams Attorney-Woodard, Weikart, Emhardt and Naughton ABSTRACT: An apparatus to break and hold flaps of boxes to be packed with objects in a case packer. A conveyor mounted on the case packer carries boxes to a loading position. A closed chain mounted to the case packer has rigid bars spaced along its length projecting over the conveyor in cantilever fashion for pushing the boxes in a given direction. In addition, cantilever springs are attached to the closed chain and spaced at intervals along the length of the chain for resiliently holding down the leading flap of the boxes. Mutually facing recesses positioned above and along each side of the conveyor hold the side flaps of the boxes in outwardly extending positions as the boxes move along the conveyor.

PATENTED JUN28 mm 3587; 207

SHEET 2 UF 6 PATENTEB Juuzs I9?! 3587-. 207

sum 3 OF 6 11V VENTUR JAMES J Slum-swam" ZZOMA/WIMVM SHEET 0F 6 PATENTED JUN428 |97| Fig. 7.

PATENTED JUH28 12m SHEET 5 OF 6 IN VBWUR Jmas J. Suurrummu 22W MLMWWQA PATE-NTED JUN 2 8 IBYI SHEET 8 OF 6 INVENTOR JAMB J Suurrmwomu 1 FLAP BREAKER AND HOLDER CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This is a divisional of application Ser. No. l4,205 filed Dec. I6, 1965, now US. Pat. No. 3,386,224.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION l. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a flap breaker and holder for use in a case packer.

2. Description of the Prior Art Various devices have been conceived for packing objects in boxes. Some of these devices are shown, for example, in the following US Pat. No. 2,946,164 to Potts et al.; No. 3,053,025 to Nigrelli et al.; and No. Re. 25,852 to Nigrelli et al. In order to effectively package objects into boxes, it is desirable that the flaps of the boxes be controlled during the packing operation. Thus, as the boxes are moved along a conveyor to the packing device, an apparatus should be provided to hold the flaps in such a manner so as to not interfere with the packing apparatus. The prior art does not include apparatus which has been completely satisfactory in all respects for the above purposes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One embodiment of this invention might include a conveyor mounted on a case packer for carrying boxes to a loading position. An endless chain mounted to sprockets on the case packer has rigid bars spaced along its length projecting over the conveyor in cantilever fashion for pushing the boxes along the conveyor. Cantilever springs are mounted to the chain projecting over the conveyor for breaking and holding the leading flaps of the boxes moving along the conveyor. Mutually facing recesses positioned along the length of the conveyor engage and'hold the side flaps of the boxes in an outward direction.

One object of this invention is to provide a case packer incorporating means for holding down the flaps of boxes moving into and through the case packer. Another object of the invention is to provide a case packer capable of maintaining complete control of all of the flaps of a case being packed. Certain prior art case packers require that the case be raised to meet the items as they are packed and as a result control of the case flaps is lost.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a case packer incorporating means for controlling the front or leading flap on the'case.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawing and the following description and claims.

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a case packer embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the case packer of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an end elevation of the structure of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical section taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2 in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical section taken along the line 5-5 of FIG.'3 in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged vertical section taken along the lines 66 of FIG. 5 in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 7 is a vertical section taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 4 in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation taken from the right side of the apparatus as viewed in FIG. 3 with a cover plate removed to show internal operating apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a perspective fragmentary view of the operating portions of apparatus making up the box conveyor of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the structure of FIG. l0.

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is illustrated a case packer 10 which includes a frame 11. Mounted upon the frame 11- is a box conveyor 12 and a can or other object conveyor 13. Boxes are placed in the opening 15 on the box conveyor 12 and move inwardly to a position beneath the can conveyor 13. The boxes are then moved leftwardly as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2 until they reach a position beneath a vertically movable vacuum head 16. The vacuum head 16 functions to lift a pattern of cans and then to move the cans downwardly into a respective box positioned beneath the vacuum head 16 and on the box conveyor 12.

The objects or cans moving on the conveyor 13 are guided into parallel lines by means of a plurality of guide elements 17 of varying lengths, each of said guide elements being fixed to a pair of mounting members 20 and 21. The mounting members are slidable upon a pair of horizontally extending rods 22 and can be adjusted at any desired position on said rods 22 by manipulation of cap screws 25. The rods 22 are fixed to the frame 11. When the guide members 17 are positioned, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the machine is set for aligning four parallel rows of cans for movement beneath the vacuum head 16. The vacuum head 16 is supplied with vacuum through a suitable vacuum pump 26 such as a ROOTS AF 24 pump, said pump being driven by suitable motor 27. The object or can conveyor 13 is driven by a suitable motor 30. An overall description of the case packer may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,224.

The box conveyor 12 actually consists of a pair of conveyors 40 and 41. The conveyor 40 comprises a belt 42 which extends around rollers 45 mounted on a carriage 46. The carriage 46 also supports the primary box conveyor 41 which includes a chain 47 having a plurality of bars 50 fixed to a chain and extending over and under the flat surface 51 defined by the main portion of the carriage 46. When the box is moved to the conveyor 41 and more particularly to the surface 51 by the conveyor 40, the flaps on the box are controlled by a U- shaped guide member 55 fixed to the frame above the second conveyor 40 and by a flap breaker arrangement 56. The U- shaped guide member 55 has a pointed base or distal end 57 which projects somewhat upwardly and somewhat outwardly away from the case packer. When a box is placed upon the conveyor 40, the U-shaped member 55 guides three of the flaps of the box into an outwardly projecting position, these three flaps being the flaps which extend, respectively, rightwardly, toward and away from the viewer of FIG. 1.

The flap breaker 56 incorporates a member 60 which projects from a location 61 closely alongside the box to its' distal end 62 just above the edge of the box. The member 60 of the flap breaker functions to push the box against a flange 65 on the carriage 46 and to break the forward flap 66 of the box, (that is, the flap which extends leftwardly as viewed in FIG. 1) down against the side of the box bending the flap sufficiently so that it will retain the somewhat downwardly extending position shown in FIG. 4. The lateral position of the flap breaker 56 can be adjusted by means of a thumb screw 67 to move the flap breaker 56 horizontally upon a vertically extending post 70 fixed to the carriage 46. Further guide apparatus 71 is adjustably fixed to the carriage 46 and functions similarly to the wardly as viewed in FIG. 4 until it is positioned directly beneath the vacuum head 16. Although only one box is shown in FIG. 4 for claritys sake, a plurality of boxes will be arranged in order in front of each of the two bars directly to the rear of the bar against which the box is positioned in FIG. 4. Boxes will be fed continuously to the conveyor 41 by the conveyor 40. The tv 0 side flaps on the box, that is, the two flaps toward and away from the viewer of FIG. 4, are guided in a horizontal outwardly extending position by flap guide means 76 and 77 (FIG. 7). The U-shaped flap guide 55 is fixed to the flap guide means 76 as shown in FIG. 4 and guides the sideward flap away from the viewer of FIG. 4 between a pair of parallel members 80 and 81 (FIG. 4). It will be noted that the members 80 and 81 are spaced apart a relatively greater distance at 82 than they are at 83 in order to prevent the flap missing the slot between the two members 80 and 81 as the box is moving on the conveyor 40.

The flap which is toward the viewer of FIG. 4 is picked up by the flap guide means 77 after the box has completed its movement on the conveyor 40. FIG. 5 perhaps best shows the diverging members 85 and 86 which guide the sideward fiap of the box into the slot 87 of the guide means 77. Referring to FIG. 7, the slots 83 and 87 are shown as being directly opposite and opening toward one another. It will also be noted that the guide members 76 and 77 are fixed to the frame 11 and not to the carriage 46. The details of a representative one of the flap guide members 76 and 77 are shown in FIG. 6. It can be seen that the members 85 and 86 are fixed in spaced relation by means of bolts 88 which extend through suitable apertures in the members 85 and 86 and through a spacer washer 90. The bolts88 are fixed to a slide element 91 which is slidable in a sleeve 92 welded to the frame 11. The slide 91 is fixed in position by screw 95 which is threaded into the reenforced portion of the sleeve 92. It can be appreciated that the flap guide members 76 and 77 are adjustable, therefore, in a horizontal direction but not in a vertical direction.

The carriage 46 is mounted upon the frame 11 and is vertically adjustable relative to the frame by means of screws 100, each of which is journaled in a respective yoke 101 fixed to one side or the other of the frame 11. Each of the screws 10% extends through a projection fixed to and extending from the carriage 46. A chain 105 extends around sprockets 106 each of which is fixed to a respective one of the screws 100. A further sprocket 107 is fixed to one of the screws 100 and is driven through chain 108 and sprocket 109 fixedly mounted on the drive shaft of a motor 110 fixed to the frame 11. The carriage may be raised or lowered by operating the motor 110 in one direction or the other. Since the flap guide means 76 and 77 are not vertically adjustable, any vertical adjustment necessary for different depths of boxes is made by means of the motor 110 and screws 100.

The conveyor 41 is powered by a hydraulic cylinder (FIG. 8), said hydraulic cylinder having a piston 116 which extends completely through the cylinder 115 and is movable between the solid line position of FIG. 8 and the dotted line position thereof. A chain 117 is engaged around sprockets 120 and 121 rotatably mounted upon the frame 11. The sprocket 121 is fixedly secured to a one-way clutch 122 which couples the sprocket 121 and a further sprocket 125 also rotatably mounted upon the frame 11. The further sprocket 125 along with additional sprockets 126 (FIGS. 4 and 8) has the chain 47 engaged thereon. As mentioned above, the chain 47 has the bars 50 fixed thereto and is used to step the boxes forwardly to their loading position and out of the apparatus. This stepping action is effected by projecting and retracting the piston 116, that is, by moving the piston 116 between the solid and dotted line position of FIG. 8.

When the piston 116 is moved from the dotted line to the solid line position, there is no movement of the chain 47 because of the free wheeling of the one-way clutch 122. When the piston is moved from the solid line to the dotted line position, however, the bars 50 are advanced by the chain 47 one complete position. That is, one of the bars 50 moves to the position previously occupied by a next adjacent bar 50. This stepping action is accurately metered by means of a mechanism 130 (FIGS. 8 and 9'). The mechanism 130 consists of an element 131 swingably mounted on the frame 11 about an axis 132 and a further element 135 swingably mounted on the frame 11 about an axis 136. The element 131 consists of the two levers 137 and 140 which are fixed together by the member 141. It will be noted that the member 140 has a hook 142 in its distal end, said hook cradling the lever 145 forming a part of the element 135. The element 135 further includes a stop member 146 which is fixed to the lever 145 by the member 147.

Assume now that the cylinder 115 moves the piston 116 from the solid to the dotted line position. This will also cause the dog fixed to the chain 117 to move rightwardly and to engage the member 161 fixed to the lever 137. Thus, the lever 137 will be moved rightwardly as viewed in FIG. 8 swinging the lever 140 with its hook 142 upwardly forcing the lever 145 upwardly and causing the stop member 146 to swing downwardly in front of the next bar 50. The dog 160 is so located on the chain 117 that it engages the member 161 just prior to the piston 116 completing its stroke. Thus, when the bar 50 engages the stop 146 stopping the bar 50 and the chain 47, the iston 116 cannot complete its possible stroke and the pressure in the hydraulic cylinder 115 is relieved by a suitable relief valve.

In FIG. 8 the member 161 is shown engaged by a further dog 171. This engagement occurs when the piston 116 is completing its stroke rightwardly as viewed in FIG. 8 and moving to the solid line position. As mentioned, the chain 47 does not move. When the dog 171 engages the member 161, the stop 146 is moved out of the way of the bar 50 so that the next forward movement of the chain 47 is permitted. It will be noted that when the box 75 is in the position shown in FIG. 4, it is ready for loading by the vacuum head 16. After such loading, the box is stepped leftwardly as viewed in FIG. 4 until it moves off of the surface 51 of the'carriage 46 and empty boxes are simultaneously stepped into loading position. Suitable means for receiving the boxes being stepped off the conveyor should be provided.

Referring to FIGS. 10 and 11, an alternative embodiment of the invention is illustrated. The embodiment of FIGS. 10 and 11 is identical to that of FIGS. 1-9 except that cantilever springs 800 (only one shown) are used and are fixedly mounted at their proximal ends to the chain 47 corresponding to chain 47. Each of the springs 800 are tightly coiled so that they normally maintain themselves rigid to hold down the leading flap 66' which corresponds to the flap 66 in FIGS. 4 and 5. Each of the springs $00 is appropriately and equally spaced from a respective one of the bars 50' corresponding to the bars 50 of FIGS. 4 and 23. Thus the flap breaker 56 of FIG. 5 acts to feed the lead flap 66' behind the respective springs 800. The advantage of using the spring 800 instead of a completely rigid member is that the spring can bend and move past the box at the end of travel of the conveyor 41. The embodiment of FIGS. 10 and 11 is particularly useful in the frequent situation wherein the box flap 66 or 66' cannot be or should not be overbent as described above in connection with FIGS. 19. The spring holds the lead flap down and makes unnecessary such overbending. It should be mentioned that because the springs are mounted on chain links they can be easily relocated to provide for difierent sized boxes.

It will be evident from the above description that the present invention provides an improved case packer incorporating means locating flaps of boxes in open position while moving into the case packer.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims are also desired to be protected.

I claim:

l. A case packer for packing a box with flaps, said case packer comprising a frame, a first box conveyor mounted on said frame and operable to carry boxes to a loading position, said first box conveyor comprising a box support having a fiat upper surface, a closed chain, means for mounting said chain on said frame and for driving said chain through a path a portion of which is above said flat upper surface and a portion of which is below said flat upper surface, rigid bars fixed to and projecting in cantilever fashion from said chain at spaced intervals along said chain and arranged to move above said surface for pushing boxes in a given direction across said surface, and cantilever spring means fixed to and projecting in cantilever fashion from said chain at spaced intervals along said chain and arranged to move above said surface for resiliently holding down the leading flap of each box as the box moves across said surface 2. The case packer of claim 1 additionally comprising guide means mounted on said frame, said box having second and 

